KS3 knowledge enhancing work

A few of our KS3 students have excelled with home learning and kept up to date with lessons and tasks supplied to them. Therefore I came up with a list of tasks that enrich the topics that they've been learning about, or won't have the opportunity to learn as it's no longer in their curriculum.

Task 1: Using longitude, latitude and maps to track hurricane paths - supplied by the American Hurricane Center. This gives an insight into the impacts of data modelling, albeit manual, but the idea is the same. There's also further activities relating to protection and preparation.


https://aamboceanservice.blob.core.windows.net/oceanservice-prod/education/for_fun/FollowthatHurricane.pdf

Task 2:Tours of USA national parks. These include 2 of my favourites: Yellowstone and Crater lake. All you have to do is go to the website and explore the virtual webcams, watch videos of the tours etc. They can then pick their favourite national park and create a poster to advertise it in school (e.g. why is their chosen park special, what does it offer visitors, what features does it have (human and physical geography). An additional activity is they can send a postcard from one of the national parks, to explain what they are doing and what they can see.

https://earth.google.com/web/@2.45133915,-98.61144059,-5192.98031784a,27413757.13498593d,35y,-0h,0t,0r/data=Ci0SKxIgMzVhNjc1YmQ0NjVjMTFlOTg0Yjg1NTMyNWRjMDk2MzQiB3ZveV90b2M

https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/take-virtual-visit-national-park?gclid=Cj0KCQjwirz3BRD_ARIsAImf7LNHnPYLHtZMnPk5Px2AhUm3aTP-jlWkktDYDsocAgzfWPj0jEthq7oaAjiwEALw_wcB

I also have colouring pages of the national parks official posters, if you'd like these as a mindfulness activity afterwards. 

Task 3: Make a model volcano (template below) and find out additional information about the stratovolcano (also known as composite volcano). Add the information, including any examples of active composite volcanoes around the world and any other interesting facts for students to learn from. 

Task 4: Gapminder card game (link at end of point). Students can research any countries they don't know about first and write the info on the back of the cards (life expectancy and GDP). They can then use the cards and the information to make a live graph (where you make the graph using the cards in front of them) to show how GDP impacts life expectancy. An example of the graph is on the last page of the pdf, but it's always interesting to see what the pupils come out with first. This is also a slight maths lesson about correlation. Here

Task 5: Create a comic strip about the weather during lockdown. Those that can, link the weather to high or low pressure. How it's changed, what we have/haven't been able to do in the weather. They may need to see past forecasts (bbc weather) and they can use the following websites/apps to create comic strips:

https://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboard-creator (creates the strips)

The website below creates characters and strips:

https://gramener.com/comicgen/

I will add more to this as i go along, but for now, have fun!

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox

Refugee week 2020

Human rights is something I feel very passionate about promoting in schools, since I started teaching A level geography and realised how little students actually knew.

This means that every year, i make a special effort to include lessons for Refugee week, in order to dispel any negative connotations to migration or persecution of anyone that is different. I also want students to know what repression is like around the world, for different religions, sexes, children and adults. It's important to know what a refugee is and not to react negative to a stigma that may have been presented in the papers.

This years theme is a good one. 'Imagine'. There's a lot you can do with this, so I've put together some tasks for our vulnerable group in school to complete throughout the week, along with a live lesson, and I'm making this available here for other students to access if they would like to learn more.

Find the lesson: here and let me know how you are promoting refugee week in school!

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox

Developing critical literacy in Geography

Paper 3 - Developing critical literacy in Geography

Enquiry based geography is something that all of us are aiming for, I hope, as this means that investigation and analysis is involved at every stage of teaching. It's also included in our exams at GCSE and A level, so it's an important still to hone. 

For paper 3 (EDEXCEL B), also known as the decision making paper, students are given a resource booklet of information, which they must use to answer questions. The final question is a decision that they must make, choosing from the available options, justifying their choice using evidence from the booklet. 

I really like this paper as it looks at modern real life decisions that people and countries have to make everyday, and gets students to think critically about why their choice is the best, taking into account economic development, impact on people and the environment.  

The issue with this paper is that sometimes the use of the resources is missed as their critical literacy is not good enough. Therefore, students aren't assessing the following points correctly:

1. What is the source of information? (photo, article, opinion, infographic, graph - all used to show information in a different way, or manipulate data).
2. What is the purpose of that information?
3. What is the motivation behind the information?
4. Who and who isn't represented in the source?
5. How does the source persuade us? (relies on students being able to infer subtle language)
6. Are there alternative views to this one?

This is a huge skill that they will need in the workplace after school. I definitely needed this in my career prior to teaching and it has led me well into teaching, as I have a need to read a piece of evidence 3 times to believe that it will work - it allows me to analyse everything before i commit. I don't know about you, but i have to answer questions about fake news articles, fake trends of knowledge etc.... all the time.


Critical literacy fits with a constructivist understanding of learning. Learners build on ideas they already have in order to question, understand and internalise new information (Ferretti, 2013, p. 105), interrelating, reinterpreting and trying to understand new experiences and ideas. But what if your students don't have this prior construction? Or can only complete this on certain sources and not others (focus a lot on data in geography, so graphs and maps are easier than text and opinions for most students).

View larger image

A model below, developed by Luke and Freebody (1999) suggest that there's a 
structured 

approach that teachers can use in order to develop these skills with our students, 

this is seen below:

1. Text decoder In this role, the reader is interested in how texts are built using sounds,
letters, words, phrases, sentence types, paragraphing structures and so on. It is 
‘code-breaking’ that involves accessing the text itself, before meaning can be made. 

2. Text participant In participating with the text, the reader uses this role to make meaning 
from the codes of the text itself. Therefore, readers working at this level are interested in 
two main things: interpreting the text using their own prior knowledge, and accessing the 
intended meanings of texts by considering what meanings the author/text designer 
was trying to convey. 

3. Text user As a text user, the reader must consider the social function(s) of the text being 

analysed. This is fundamentally connected to genre: the purpose, intended audience, 

form/structure, and function of texts. Genres emerge from ‘traditions of representations’ that 

make assumptions about what intended readers should know, how they think, and what they 

believe. Genre, and whether or not a text adheres to the rules of that genre, contribute toward 

whether or not a reader might find it convincing. 

4. Text analyst Also known as the ‘critical turn’, the text analyst is interested in how the 

components of the text, the meanings available, and the social function of the text all relate to 

issues of power, identity, access, diversity and social impact. Here, the reader asks questions 

about who is included or excluded? Whose interests are served by the text? How might this 

text be used to reproduce or challenge certain social norms?

I had to teach up to level 4 throughout the A Level course, and found this relatively 
easy as everything is analysed, so the skill came quickly and easily to the students 
after a few attempts. However, I believe that we probably only make it to number 2 
the majority of the time with GCSE. Probably not through lack of thought, but maybe 
that students don't need the skill for the exam and the sheer amount of content is 
fairly overwhelming at the best of times. I've therefore looked into strategies to 
increase this in my lessons, as i use a lot of articles, videos, news reports.

Although we'd like to believe these have no political bias, it's definitely there (are we 

making sure to provide neutral information? - I worry about this a lot). Also, geography 

looks at the environment, social and economic links - are we ensuring that everyone is represented/considered? A good example is when opinions or stakeholders are used - 

is that including everyone in the demographics or the scenario? Is there an agenda 

behind the information used? We need to know the answers to these before we present 

them to the students, to make sure we are providing the best quality resources.

Here's something i've used in class before, to help students get to step 4. This can be 

simplified, or shortened to fit into small schemes or be a quick starter task, but it still 

gets students to start being critically literate. You can analyse texts with the questions 

and answers to them in another colour, you can ask specifically one step of the model, 

or you can have a whole lesson based around it, if you're working on the decision 

making part of it. 

It is worth modelling steps 3 and 4 a few times if students are struggling, as i've 

experienced that they genuinely don't understand how to answer the questions or 
where the information might come from, within the source. E.g. I was looking at a 
text on the decline of British farmers, which was written by Farmers Weekly. 
We were looking at how reliable the source was at telling us about modern farming 
and students really struggled to work out how the text would be used, why it would 
be written and who it served/assumptions of knowledge and who is missed out. I had 
to show them what to look for and then practice on a second text, which i had ready.

If anyone has any other great strategies then please feel free to add them here! I think 

it's going to be an increasingly popular skill for students to gain for further study, so 

may as well start somewhere!

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox

References and further reading.

Ferretti, J. (2013) ‘Whatever happened to the enquiry approach in geography?’ in Lambert, D. 
and Jones, M. (eds) Debates in Geography Education, London, Routledge, pp. 103–15 

Luke, A., & Freebody, P. (1999). Further notes on the four resources model. 
Reading online, 3, 1-6.

Expedition to Madagascar

While finishing the KS3 curriculum, I decided to try something a bit different, which can be slipped into any part of the curriculum as the idea is that it's synoptic, decision making and sort of skills based. I also wanted to focus on literacy and the love of reading, as I read so much myself, I know that it can help students with their imagination, empathy and learning new vocabulary.

For this, I thought it might be a good idea to focus around GIS, by using ArcGIS storymap and one of my books, received as a birthday present (Gerald Durrell - the Aye-Aye and I). With this GIS software, you can create stories based around maps, but there's loads of other features that you can add to it, to make it more immersive. I have used every feature available within this, so you can see what it can offer you.

Gerald became the expedition leader for the story and the end goal is for the students to complete this expedition and then recreate a short GIS storymap about somewhere that means something to them. However, at the same time as exploring the GIS software and practicing skills, they also learn about a place that doesn't usually get much focus in the Africa scheme of work, as there's so many cultures, countries and languages that are usually a much larger focus.

Here is my attempt at re-creating Gerald Durrell's expedition to Madagascar, to find the Aye-Aye: Here

Hopefully it can be of use to some of you - after 4 solid days of research, creativity and frustration!

If not, just have a look and let me know what you think. All feedback is welcome - this is currently being completed by some students i'm helping (and beta reader Diane), to see what kind of support needs to be made in the form of a powerpoint to supplement this, so that will follow when the results come in.

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox

Year 10 half term coding project

I got into coding as I wanted to learn Python, to make GIS more of a flexible tool for me in the future. I can tell you that after just under two weeks of training in multiple different coding languages, I love it! I've been so impressed with what's out there, I have set a half term challenge for year 10 (powerpoint and links all included here.

It's hard and frustrating at first, but once you understand the basics of the language, you can pick it up quickly and easily and apply to many different scenarios, different complexities of code and pieces of software. Here's some of the programmes I recommend:

1. Apple Swift Playgrounds, the link found: here.
This is a game based coding app for IOS only (Ipad and Mac, not phones), where you write code for your character and solve the many puzzles that he gets into, with increasing difficulty. Swift coding is aimed at coding on the IOS systems, but many principles can be applied to other languages. I have thoroughly enjoyed this and have gained my 4 Apple teacher coding badges because of it. As an FYI: it does take the allocated amount of time to achieve these, as you have to have completed the majority of the coding course to answer the quiz questions correctly.

2. As recommended by my cousin (primary school teacher) www.code.org.

This website is free and has the ability to set up classes, like seneca, and assign courses to your students at all levels. I don't like to discriminate the key stages too much, so I've included this as some of the courses for primary aged students are really great. They also cater for students up to the age of 18. I have been through a lot of the courses and the content is comprehensive - ranging from primary coding (foundation coding) all the way up to internet and digital safety and creating your own websites and apps, using code. 

3. Another app, available to Apple and Android users, called Grasshopper here

This is another great app, which uses progressive story telling to teach javascript. This is particularly interesting to those looking into animation or the more visual side of coding. I have enjoyed using this app and will probably continue as it is the easiest one to keep picking up when you have a bit of time. 

4. Mimo is slightly different, found here. This can be used on web browsers or via apps on both Apple and Android. The thing I liked about this is that it added levels of challenge and language that others don't use, but are applicable to coding terminology. I also liked the achievement diary and the fact that you can code through several routes: coding websites, learning to hack (thought this might be popular) and building apps, incorporating javascript.

5. Computing unplugged here - for those that have a smartphone but may be limited to what they can install on it, here's a website with loads of activities that you can do without a computer to hand. They range from very basic, hands on things, to learning the theory and uses behind coding and programming. A useful start into a new language.

For me, I'm going to continue to master Python and improve with Java and Swift. I will also look to incorporate some of the schemes of work available within these apps/websites into our geography curriculum, in order to enhance employable skills and experiences. It's been an enjoyable journey so far, and will hopefully be the same for the students assigned this project.

Have a go too, and let me know how you get on! I love discussing the challenges and possible applications for the geography classroom.

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox

GIS Making maps

I know that Digimaps has been making the GIS rounds for primary schools in particular, during lockdown. What must not be forgotten, although this is a great piece of software for looking at OS maps, historic maps and changes over time, there are other map programmes that should be used to supplement our curriculums and teach students skills that are in demand in the employment market.

There are two (technically 3, but one has the same name) that I recommend, in order to achieve this:

1. Google earth (web launcher here) and google earth pro here

I have used these a lot during lockdown in order to enhance learning and cultural capital. Google Earth web launcher has amazing features that can be used by anyone that can support google chrome (ipad, tablet, phone, computer).

The features that can be used really easily are:

Google projects. I have been using this to create virtual field trips. You can plan out your routes, add pictures, data, graphs, photos. The route can be followed and you can explain what needs to be achieved at each stop. It's worth noting that if you place a pin, you can view from street view, and follow the route that was as well, so it's like a walking tour. This only works in places with good quality maps - I've done the USA and UK in detail and Mumbai and Kampala in less detail. You can also view in 3d and add as many or as little labels to it as you like.

Google Earth pro - this is ingenious. With this, it's like a full GIS tool, but easy to use. You can measure gradients (used it to measure beach gradient for a field trip), go on sightseeing tours (pre made), add many different layers that are already available, view the earth, sky and other planets - depending on your investigation needs, have a look at landscapes at different times of the day and how sunlight impacts them, create your own maps to share (as long as the software is downloaded on the school/work/home computer system). The ideas are endless and i've had a lot of fun creating maps and trips with the two google programs combined.

2. ArcGIS

I've completed the ESRI training course for secondary students (here) and thoroughly recommend enrolling students into it, if they are able to, during lockdown (or as a scheme of work for KS3 or 4, depending on time allowance when back in school). You can make your own data maps rather than having to google image search to find a specific item that you need. Can be really good for specific case studies, or to investigate data or maps in more detail - for development, hurricanes, population. I've had a lot of fun with this so far - as you can import crime and neighbourhood data from the council website and it maps it for you.

My next task is to learn GIS coding with Python, so I can also try to teach this through KS3 or 4.

Hope this helps someone out there.

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox

Assessment in Geography course

Assessment is something that means several things to me. Mostly, it's used to judge my teaching. A student doesn't get the results? I have to justify why my teaching has led to this, to both the school and the parents. However, what i believe it should show is not how a student can complete a test, but what i really want to know, is how much geography do they actually know and how well do they know it (this is the real reason i went into teaching). It's for this reason that I feel passionate about developing a better strategy for the KS3 and 4 curriculums I have created.

So far, the skeletal assessment framework that is in place at school at the moment has been changed by many head of departments, so I can't say that it is robust enough or producing a fair assessment of all pupils progress. This isn't something I will get to change in school, but can develop on my own and share for others to benefit. Maybe? 

So, I found this course through openlean here, and although some of the ideas are older, they are still very valid and help those who are looking to improve book work for scrutiny or even to have alternate approaches to showing progress and assessment within the curriculum. 

The most useful parts are as follows:

Who decides what knowledge is important? 

In a subject as broad as geography, what is valued by one person might not be by another. The emphasis placed on knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes varies. Geography is also dynamic and continually under construction, so the valued elements also change over time. However.....

Progression can be considered in relation to the learning experiences planned by the teacher:

• increasing breadth of study

• wider range of scales studied

• greater complexity of phenomena studied

• introducing more precise geographical terminology and vocabulary

• increasing use of generalised knowledge and abstract ideas, particularly through making connections and comprehending relationships (Weeden, 2013, p. 147)

• requiring greater precision in undertaking intellectual and practical tasks

• a more mature awareness and understanding of issues and of the context of differing attitudes and values within which they arise.

These 3 aspects of a geographical education are the points that I have been trying to assess as I personally think that they are the most important:

• Contextual world knowledge of locations, places and geographical features.
• Understanding of the conditions, processes and interactions that explain features and distributions, patterns and changes over time and space.
• Competence in geographical enquiry, the application of skills in observing, collecting, analysing, mapping and communicating geographical information.

What I couldn't work out was how to assess this and prove it in students books like a growing portfolio of excellent geography. I have the sequence and links, but not the proof that they are actually progressing, unless you add a numerical summative assessment into the mix. This course pinpointed me to a more broad framework of guidance - what do I expect students in each year to achieve? For example:

• Demonstrating greater fluency with world knowledge by drawing on increasing breadth and depth of content and contexts.
• Extending from the familiar and concrete to the unfamiliar and abstract.
• Making greater sense of the world by organising and connecting information and ideas about people, places, processes and environments.

• Working with more complex information about the world, including the relevance of people’s attitudes, values and beliefs.
• Increasing the range and accuracy of investigative skills, and advancing their ability to select and apply these with increasing independence to geographical enquiry.

Yes, I expect all of these. With any luck, this would have been achieved. But if anyone looked in their books, would they see it? Probably not? Unless I was there to explain it. The course identified some strategies that can be used to help prove this, from short - long term. Examples:

1. let students know what the expectations are for the unit and the year, so they can see how to improve.
1. Short low stakes tests - these we already do every lesson
2. Group or individual work showing knowledge and understanding e.g. comparing two landforms and processes - why do they happen here? Peer or self assessed against a mark scheme with a self assessment sheet illustrating what points need to be improved, so students know specific weaknesses and strengths.
3. Students to look and annotate each others work - from another class or a model answer, then add to their self assessment sheet.
4. Include tasks that allow students to evaluate or assess within an enquiry, which links to environmental, social and economic issues.
5. evaluate their progress against the unit/year outcomes
6. summative assessment - can they use all of these skills to complete a test?

However, these are some of the issues we come up against in our setting, which means resources or self assessment will need to be adapted to support all learners:

1. Low literacy rates
2. Difficulty interpreting mark schemes
3. Inference and independence - students struggle to take responsibility for their own learning

There is also a very low cultural capital, which needs to be overcome. Ideas of how to overcome this were also discussed in the course. Here are my thoughts, some of which are already incorporated into the schemes of work as I was aware that this was an issue before:

1. Provide as many different places and contexts as possible, supported with videos, images, real life diaries, travel logs, blogs, articles and personal experiences. Also including VR or AR to help students 'experience' geography.

2. Re-sequence lessons so that all topics support each other.

3. Have multiple scales and skills mapped throughout the course, so that they are repeated in different contexts and topics.

4. Repeat knowledge frequently, throughout all topics, either by reference within lesson (linking back to previous relevant work) or by low stakes testing, quizizz, plickers, seneca, kahoot, making it more of an interactive experience, rather than a test.


The conclusion I have come to, is that there needs to be several assessed pieces throughout each topic, in order to create a 'portfolio of excellent geography' which shows progression for every student, no matter of their start point, so my next KS3 topic (weather and climate) will have:

low stakes testing
A weather report, where students create a weather map (location and context knowledge), script (understanding) and will answer questions about their report based on 'what if's' (enquiry). This will be self assessed.
Extended writing enquiry - against a success criteria (knowledge and understanding, including social, environmental and economic)
Summative assessment

This might help someone!

Kind Regards,

Miss Cox